I am left a little dismayed, ( and more ) after a recent Rant directed at one of our members on his website.

Sandra Healey, who is an apparent land holder that ajoins the weld river downstream from the bridge. Yes, presumably the ones that had the sign up saying (Private Property F▪▪K Off ), now removed, directed a one eyed tirade, directed at mfdes on his 'apple isle prospector' website.

While one can sympathize with land owners and the delema that they face with the constant dynamics of 'nature at work' with rivers and drainage systems that bounder their properties and eroding such features, i doubt that they would be complaining if soil and wash was adding to their properties bulk.

As far as i am aware there is an riparian zone that separates their property from the weld river proper, which in turn signifies that she doesnt even know where her boundry is!Its the same old story. A load of uneducated fossickers, that will get the area closed for all, and a few rules and regulation signs for such fossickers probably wouldnt go astray!

Regardless, such actions as those voiced by Sandrs Healey really are unacceptable when directed at any particular person or persons without any conclusive evidence or proof of such doings.

Check her rant out at "apple isle prospector" website and search weld river sapphires.-comments.There out there and we stand by you bro!

Im sure Sandra is a wonderful arty and most creative individual and will be planting out her over grazed pastures in location specific flora after selling all her happy fat non native cattle that are shitting in the river to remediate her block of dirt exactly how she envisions her green happy world should look. Then donate the lot to a worthy cause. She does own to the middle of the river. If its a first order stream. And, its not.

According to her own words its the people (like ants) she does not like in her area. Digging willy nilly spiel. its a government agency controlled designated fossicking and mining area and it was well before she got there spinning it for their own lifestyle / commercial cattle breeding purposes and trying to wrap it in some eco dribble they obviously know very little about and clearly show very little concern for.

Hey, Phil, You have my full attention. What makes a first order stream or, presumably a second order stream. Would be well that those unknowing in our forum. (such as myself) know what makes the difference so we know where we can tread...

I may be wrong with the above statement. I was sure it was in one of our State resource or a development ACT. i just cant find it. Crown land act or mineral act? so will say im wrong till i can find it again. The crown own all water and a distance from each side of the normal stream maximum height. Riparian rights did give half the river to the land owner. however today, its full of clauses. Leased and you get none. short term ownership and you get none etc. It was more about minerals than water i was interested in it for and cant for the life of me find it. Im sure they own it till it becomes a first order stream and then you need to own both sides of it. its not about water rights im interested in only minerals and i cant seem to find it atm.

So, anyway, to clarify things i looked at current planning and the boundaries to see exactly whats going on in the Weld river as of today.

In LIST it all authority land. Zoned Public reserve and other reserve about 15 meters from the centre line of the WELD river. Her property does not control or own the Weld river. Her boundary would be 30 feet away at least and to infer otherwise is bordering on criminal. She may have water rights, i don't know and i dont care. This lady is pretending to own the Weld river and not let people that can be there. With threatening signs and some childish internet trolling gibberish. nah nah.

The Green Line is hers, the Orange line is the river. the rest is ours. The Fossicking area in the second image below with clearly defined boundaries. you dont even need a prospecting licence to prospect on it.

Just to make people aware of the level of protection our forests enjoys and how much left we have to use. Whats protected is in blue. The rest has been logged continuously or farmland or has someones house on it. I did see the greens trying to protect a working forest recently and simply had to laugh, it was in such good condition they thought it was untouched forest.

To add a little to this story, the area on the sides of the Weld River downstream from the Frome Bridge is not a fossicking area. However, it is NOT private property, it is Crown Land, and if you have a prospecting licence you're good to go.

The matter with the farmer abusing fossickers and planting signs was escalated to MRT and he has supposedly been reported to the Police. If this happens again next season, we would love to hear this as it should be reported to the police.

It's hard to know whether the abuse, signs and large items of rubbish thrown in the river were related to the rant at the Apple Isle Prospector site, although the talk of signs suggests so. Is Sandra Healy related to the landowner between the Weld and Moorina?

On a related note, if you're fossicking in the area next summer, please pay attention that you don't stray near a cannabis plantation. We hear that they're fairly common in the area, and owners have been known to confront and intimidate people who get too close.